Apple CEO Tim Cook: Nokia died because it could no longer innovate

Apple CEO Tim Cook sat with Bloomberg, and within the interview he discussed Microsoft's recent acquisition of Nokia's handset business.

"Everybody is trying to adopt Apple's strategy," says Cook. "We're not looking for external validation of our strategy, but I think it does suggest that there's a lot of copying, kind of, on the strategy and that people have recognized that importance."

When asked about Nokia, which will still operate under its own name, Cook says the industry needs to read up on the story of the once prominent phone maker. "I think [Nokia] is a reminder to everyone in business that you have to keep innovating and that to not innovate is to die," said Cook.

Before the launch of the iPhone and Android, Nokia controlled as much as 80 percent of the smartphone market with its Symbian operating system. While the company continued to innovate on the design side of the hardware, the software fell behind to the point of no return and eventually the company had to strike a deal with Microsoft for Windows Phone.